JOINT STATEMENT ON ESTABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENT COUNSELLOR

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JOINT STATEMENT ON ESTABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENT COUNSELLOR
AT EXTRAORDINARY CHAMBERS IN COURTS OF CAMBODIA

PHNOM PENH/ NEW YORK, 12 August (Office of Legal Affairs) -- Following is the text of a joint statement on the establishment of an Independent Counsellor at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia:

Further to the meetings of 9 December 2008, 23 February 2009, and 6 to 8 April 2009, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Royal Government Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials, H.E. Sok An, and United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Mr. Peter Taksøe-Jensen, are pleased to announce that they have concluded the text of an “Agreement to Establish an Independent Counsellor at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia”. The Agreement is based on the significant achievements made by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) as witnessed by the over 12,000 Cambodian citizens who have so far attended court proceedings in the first case. Both parties recognised the continuing importance of this progress toward addressing impunity for the crimes of the former Khmer Rouge regime. The Agreement was reached following detailed consultations with, and with the full support of, the Friends of the ECCC (the Ambassadors of the principal donor countries). The text of the Agreement is attached to this Joint Statement.

The designation of an Independent Counsellor builds on the existing structure of national and international Ethics Monitors and the Joint Sessions established by the Joint Statements of 10 December 2008 and 23 February 2009. It represents a further step to help strengthen the human resources management in the entire ECCC administration, including anti-corruption measures, to ensure the requirements of due process of law, including full protection of staff on both sides of the ECCC against any possible retaliation for good faith reporting of wrongdoing. In this context, the Independent Counsellor will be available to all staff to bring forward any concerns confidentially, and will be empowered to address such concerns.

Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations have respectively proposed a number of individuals as candidates for the role of Independent Counsellor. After due consideration and extensive discussion between the parties, and after consultation with, and with the full support of the Friends of the ECCC, the parties have mutually agreed that H.E. Mr. Uth Chhorn, the Auditor General of Cambodia, should be selected to serve as the Independent Counsellor.

H.E. Sok An and Mr. Peter Taksøe-Jensen firmly believe that this new mechanism will enable staff in the entire administration of the ECCC to raise concerns confidentially, without fear of retaliation, and that it should be capable of effectively addressing any allegations of misconduct. The parties will carefully monitor the implementation of the existing structure and the function of the Independent Counsellor established by the attached Agreement, and will keep open the possibility of reviewing the arrangements in order to take any opportunities to improve them further, as appropriate.

The full text of the Agreement follows:

Agreement to Establish an Independent Counsellor
At the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Noting the Agreement between the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia signed in Phnom Penh on 6 June 2003 (hereinafter referred to as “the Agreement”) concerning the Prosecution under Cambodian Law of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (hereinafter referred to as “the ECCC”), and the Joint Statements issued by the parties on 10 December 2008 and 23 February 2009 concerning the Joint Sessions between the national and international sides of the ECCC; and,

Recalling the Joint Statement of 23 February 2009, in which the parties noted that the Joint Sessions had promoted greater mutual understanding of the need to strengthen the human resources management in the entire administration, including anti-corruption measures, and agreed that a structure should be established, based on existing mechanisms, to ensure the requirements of due process of law, including full protection of staff on both sides of the ECCC against any possible retaliation for good faith reporting of wrongdoing;

Therefore, the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations agree to the following:

1. In addition to the existing structure of national and international Ethics Monitors and the Joint Sessions, the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) and the United Nations shall agree the designation of an Independent Counsellor to be available to all staff to bring their concerns confidentially.

2. The Independent Counsellor shall be an individual who is acceptable to both the RGC and the United Nations chosen in consultation with the group of friends of the ECCC. He or she shall be appointed neither on a Cambodian contract nor United Nations’ contract, but in accordance with the mandate and the terms of reference set out in paragraph 3 below with details on funds to be used to be worked out by mutual agreement between the UN and the RGC.

3. Mandate and terms of reference of the Independent Counsellor:

(a) The Independent Counsellor shall:

(i) be a person of high integrity and good reputation;

(ii) be neither an employee of the ECCC, nor the United Nations, nor a political appointee in the RGC;

(iii) take into account the context in which the ECCC operates, and its specificities, while respecting international standards;

(iv) have relevant professional qualifications and experience;

(v) ideally be fluent in two of the official languages of the ECCC;

(vi) be a good communicator, including having the ability to communicate effectively with high level government and diplomatic officials;

(vii) have cross-cultural awareness;

(viii)be able to relate to all personnel, from the lowest to the highest ranking, including administrative, technical and judicial personnel.

(b) The Independent Counsellor, in exercising his or her function, shall:

(i) carry out his or her responsibilities impartially and independently;

(ii) provide counseling to staff confidentially raised with him or her;

(iii) carry out his or her responsibilities strictly confidentially, except:

(I) to keep the Joint Sessions informed about his or her activities, whilst respecting the confidentiality of staff who have approached him or her;

(II) to inform the Deputy Prime Minister of RGC and the Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs of the United Nations at Headquarters in the event of any concerns which he or she deems appropriate to raise at that level.

(iv) If the Independent Counsellor raises an issue referred to in sub-paragraph (iii)(II) above, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs shall seek to resolve the matter promptly through consultations.

4. The RGC and the United Nations will share on an equal basis the costs of the function of the Independent Counsellor.

5. The initial appointee for the position of Independent Counsellor is referenced in Annex. If at any time the initially appointed Independent Counsellor is unable to continue to carry out the functions of the office, he or she shall be replaced by another person who fulfills the criteria elaborated in paragraph 3 above and who shall be mutually agreed by both parties and chosen in consultation with the group of Friends of the ECCC.

6. This Agreement and Annex are made in two original copies, and will come into effect on the date on which both signatures are affixed.

For the Royal Government of Cambodia

Sok An
Deputy Prime Minister and
Chairman of the Royal Government
Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials
Phnom Penh, 07 August 2009

For the United Nations

Peter Taksøe-Jensen
Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs
New York, 11 August 2009

---

Annex -- Independent Counsellor Designation


We, the undersigned, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) and the United Nations (UN), have concluded an “Agreement to Establish an Independent Counsellor at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia”. Pursuant to the terms of that Agreement the parties proposed a number of individuals as candidates for the function of Independent Counsellor. After due consideration and extensive discussion between the RGC and UN, and in consultation with the Friends of the ECCC, we hereby select H.E. Mr. Uth Chhorn, Auditor General of Cambodia, to serve in this capacity.

For the Royal Government of Cambodia

Sok An
Deputy Prime Minister and
Chairman of the Royal Government
Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials
Phnom Penh, 07 August 2009

For the United Nations

Peter Taksøe-Jensen
Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs
New York, 11 August 2009

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Duch Would Accept Stoning for His Crimes

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 August 2009

The former chief of a notorious Khmer Rouge prison said on Wednesday he wished he could be stoned to death for his crimes, as people in the Bible had.

“If it were the Khmer culture, like after the death of Jesus Christ, of people throwing stones…I would accept if the Cambodian people did the same,” said Duch, a born-again Christian facing atrocity crimes charges for the deaths of 12,380 people.

His statement followed a claim for justice by Ou Thon, 64, who said she lost all four of her children and her husband to the Khmer Rouge, at the killing fields of Choeung Ek, which were administered by Duch.

Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, admitted it was the Cambodian people who suffered the most under the regime.

“I recognize my culpability,” he said.

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Groups Lodge Massive Land Complaint

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 August 2009

More than 300 representatives from 19 provinces urged government agencies and offices to resolve disputes in more than 700,000 hectares of land, complaining their daily existence was threatened by their displacement.

“We are losing land, forests and fisheries that are important sources of our daily livelihoods, because of some private companies and powerful officials,” said Hor Sam Art, a representative of family in Battambang province.

The group, from 29 different communities, filed a joint complaint to the offices of the prime minister, the Council of Ministers, the National Authority for Land Dispute Resolution, and the Ministry of Land Management on Tuesday.

The complaint included 119,218 signatures, from disputes in 164 villages in provinces ranging across the entire country.

“We want the government to know our sufferings, difficulties and needs,” Hor Sam Art said. “We know that we are making difficulty to the government in the complaints. We have made many complaints with local government, but it did not find a resolution.”

The complaints included pictures of land dispute locations and reports of shooting injuries and death, beatings, detention, imprisonment of dissenters and the clearing of houses and crops.

“We request the government to quickly suspend or end the new concession contracts and development projects affecting the livelihoods of the communities, as well as put an end to threats and arrests and release prisoners,” the group said in a joint statement.

“We do not have any intention of disgracing the government, but we have no choice, because in the past we’ve protested and complained again and again, but we have not found a resolution,” said Seng Sok Heng, a representative from Banteay Meanchey province.

Ny Chakya, chief investigator for the right group Licadho, said the group would follow whether the government can find soltuions.

“Providing economic land concessions to private companies in the wrong direction affects people’s family economic development and jeopardizes the government’s poverty reduction plan,” he said.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the complaints will be solved “in conformity with the law.”

The government reviews the laws for land property of ethnic minorities, he said, and if it finds companies breaking the law, it ends the contract with the company.

“Now we’ve ordered the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction and the concerned provincial authorities to investigates the complaints of the communities,” he said.

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Seaweed Company’s Public Offering Illegal: Officials

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 August 2009

A Malaysian seaweed company in Kampot province has begun selling public shares to local citizens as a way to raise investment capital, a move the government claims is illegal.

Since early 2009, FMC Services, Bhd., has invested nearly $3 million in growing seaweed on the coast, which sells as foodstuff in Japan, China, Korea, the US and Europe and can be used in cosmetics.

The company had been using about 60 hectares of sea area, but plans to increase that to 10,000 hectares, offering in September unlimited shares at $300 per share, said Mei Ratha, FMC’s Cambodia representative.

Shares could yield an increase in value of 30 percent the first year, 50 percent the second and 75 percent the third, with value doubling in the fourth year, he said, adding that around 400 people are waiting to buy in.

“Don’t wait and see,” Mei Ratha said. “Time is limited. Come and buy shares. It is beneficial. More beneficial than keeping your money with other people.”

However, on learning of the scheme, Minh Ban Kosal, director-general of the Securities Commission of Cambodia, said the public offering was not yet legal in Cambodia.

“If my company wants to sell shares, I can sell them to people I know, but not publicly announce it and ask the public to buy them,” he said.

Cambodia plans to establish a stock exchange at the end of the year, listing between four and 10 companies, but FMC is not among them, he said, adding the commission would immediately look into the offering.

Mei Ratha said he had not asked for permission to sell the shares, denying the company had done anything wrong in seeking to raise capital. The company was not only selling shares in Cambodia, but other countries as well.

Risk of bankruptcy will be insured for shareholders, he said.

Sam Ganty, a stocks expert who sits on the Securities Commission, said the shares were illegal and risky.

“If we buy shares when we know nothing about the company, and the company doesn’t have permission to sell such kind of shares, I think the shares are very risky,” he said.

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Vietnamese firms kick off trade events in Cambodia

http://vietnewsonline.vn

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Compiled by Hong Nguyen

A series of trade events will take place this month at the Tinh Bien Border Gate between Vietnam and Cambodia, as Vietnamese companies look closer to home to offset slowing exports to Europe and the U.S.

A trade festival for Vietnamese made goods will be held at the border gate in Mekong Delta’s An Giang Province, provincial People’s Committee chairman Le Minh Chieu told Sai Gon Tiep Thi (Sai Gon Marketing) newspaper.

The event is timed to coincide with the opening of the Tinh Bien Commerical Zone and to give made-in-Vietnam goods more exposure in Cambodia, said Chieu, co-organizer of the event along with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The two-day festival will showcase a wide variety of Vietnamese goods on sale at ten duty free supermarkets and play host to the signing of a number of export contracts with Cambodian distributors.

Vietnamese products have gained considerable popularity among Cambodian consumers thanks to numerous fairs and trade events held in the country over the past eight years.

Vietnamese businesses taking part in the event will also provide Cambodian farmers with technical agricultural aid and free health check-ups.

A report on the Cambodian retail market will also be released on the occasion.

Vietnam’s Center of Business Studies and Assistance (BSA) also plans to conduct a consumer survey on made-in-Vietnam products in the neighboring market.

The survey is expected to cost VND300 million (US$17,539), to be funded by the Vietnamese Goods of High Quality Club.

The results of the survey will be published as a manual for Vietnamese businesses looking to set up shop in Cambodia.

In recent years, two-way trade has grown on average growth by 40 percent each year, from US$935 million in 2006 to $1.2 billion in 2007 and nearly $1.7 billion in 2008. Both sides expect that figure to rise to more than US$2 billion by next year, according to a Vietnamese government website.

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Corruption watchdog picked for Khmer Rouge trial

Taiwan News
http://www.etaiwannews.com

Associated Press
2009-08-12

Cambodia and the United Nations have agreed on the appointment of a corruption watchdog at the country's Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal, they announced Wednesday.
Allegations of corruption _ notably that some Cambodian personnel paid kickbacks to get their jobs _ have threatened to undermine the credibility of the tribunal, which seeks to establish accountability for the estimated 1.7 million deaths under the communist Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.

The allegations also have jeopardized the tribunal's funding, which largely comes from foreign donors.

"I think this new measure is going to address all the issues we have had in the past," said tribunal spokeswoman Yuko Maeda.

The U.N.-backed tribunal has parallel teams of international and Cambodian personnel who work in tandem.

Its first trial, of the Khmer Rouge's top jailer, began earlier this year. Four other former senior Khmer Rouge officials are in the tribunal's custody.

The corruption allegations originally were made more than two years ago by the Open Society Justice Initiative, a New York-based group monitoring the tribunal. Cambodian and some U.N. officials have publicly denied them.

But the allegations were revived in February when a report on the German parliament's Web site alleged that a top U.N. tribunal official had acknowledged the kickbacks and accused a senior Cambodian administrator of corruption.

Wednesday's announcement said Cambodian Auditor-General Uth Chhorn will take the job, which includes protecting any whistle-blowers from retaliation.

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Corruption watchdog picked for Khmer Rouge trial

Taiwan News
http://www.etaiwannews.com

Associated Press
2009-08-12

Cambodia and the United Nations have agreed on the appointment of a corruption watchdog at the country's Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal, they announced Wednesday.
Allegations of corruption _ notably that some Cambodian personnel paid kickbacks to get their jobs _ have threatened to undermine the credibility of the tribunal, which seeks to establish accountability for the estimated 1.7 million deaths under the communist Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.

The allegations also have jeopardized the tribunal's funding, which largely comes from foreign donors.

"I think this new measure is going to address all the issues we have had in the past," said tribunal spokeswoman Yuko Maeda.

The U.N.-backed tribunal has parallel teams of international and Cambodian personnel who work in tandem.

Its first trial, of the Khmer Rouge's top jailer, began earlier this year. Four other former senior Khmer Rouge officials are in the tribunal's custody.

The corruption allegations originally were made more than two years ago by the Open Society Justice Initiative, a New York-based group monitoring the tribunal. Cambodian and some U.N. officials have publicly denied them.

But the allegations were revived in February when a report on the German parliament's Web site alleged that a top U.N. tribunal official had acknowledged the kickbacks and accused a senior Cambodian administrator of corruption.

Wednesday's announcement said Cambodian Auditor-General Uth Chhorn will take the job, which includes protecting any whistle-blowers from retaliation.

Cambodia: A land up for sale?

Ramon Fil says he was tricked into signing away more land

By Robert Walker
BBC World Service
http://news.bbc.co.uk

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Romam Fil is moving rapidly through a dense patch of forest. Every few metres he pauses and points to edible plants and roots that the Jarai people of north eastern Cambodia have relied on for generations.

Then suddenly the trees come to an end. In front of us is a vast clearing, the red earth churned up and dotted with tree stumps.

Beyond that, stretching as far as we can see is a rubber plantation, the young trees are still thin and spindly and sway gently in the breeze.

This is the scene of a battle the Jarai people of Kong Yu village have been fighting, and losing for the past five years.

It started when local officials called a meeting and said they needed some of the forest.

"They told us they wanted to give part of our land to disabled soldiers," said Mr Fil.

"They said if you don't give us the land, we'll take it. So we agreed to give them a small area, just 50 hectares."

The villagers say they were then invited to a party and when many of them were drunk they were asked to put their thumbprints on documents.

"Most of us don't know how to read or write, and the chiefs did not explain what the thumbprints were for," said Mr Fil.

The villagers later found they had signed away more than 400 hectares - and the land was not for disabled soldiers, but a private company who began making way for the rubber plantation.

"They cleared areas where our people had their farms, and they destroyed our burial ground," said Mr Fil.

Political connections?

Lawyers for the owner of the plantation company, a powerful businesswoman called Keat Kolney, insist she bought the land legally.

The Cambodian government has been accused of undermining the poor

But groups advocating for local land rights in Cambodia say part of the reason she was able to acquire the land is because she is married to a senior official in the ministry of land management.

It is not the only case where those closely connected to senior government figures are alleged to have taken land from poor Cambodians.

Five years ago, in north-western Pursat province a large grazing area was turned into an economic land concession - land the government grants to private firms for investment in large-scale agriculture.

It was allocated to a politically well-connected company called Pheapimex.

"They just came one day with their bulldozers and started clearing the land straight away," said Chamran, a farmer in the area.

"So we organised a demonstration but then a grenade was thrown among us - we don't know who by. Nine people were injured. The military police pointed a gun in my stomach and said if you hold another demonstration we will kill you."

Transparent process

Under the law, land concessions granted by the government should not exceed 10,000 hectares but the Pheapimex concession, although much of it is so far inactive, covers 300,000 hectares.

Global Witness, an environmental pressure group, estimates Pheapimex now controls 7% of Cambodia's land area.

The organisation says the company's owners, a prominent senator and his wife, have strong links to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Pheapimex did not reply to requests for a response to these allegations, but the Cambodian government maintains that the process by which private companies acquire land is both transparent and legal.

"The requirement is not to be close to the prime minister," said Phay Siphan, spokesman for Cambodia's Council of Ministers.

"The requirement is that you have enough capital, you have the technology to develop the land."

'Kleptocratic state'

It is not just in rural areas that people complain of losing land.

Cambodia's recent stability, following decades of violence, has attracted a rapid boom in tourism and a race among foreign and local entrepreneurs for prime real estate on which to build new resorts.

Farmers have been threatened with jail if they demonstrate

Many of the country's beaches have already been bought up.

And rights groups estimate that 30,000 people have been forcibly evicted from their homes in the capital Phnom Penh over the past five years to make way for new developments.

The roots of the problem date back to the 1970s when the brutal Khmer Rouge regime abolished private property and destroyed many title documents.

A land law passed in 2001 recognises the rights of people who have lived on land without dispute for five years or more, but in many cases it is not being implemented.

The UN estimates hundreds of thousands of Cambodians are now affected by land disputes.

The government has said that they are not forcefully taking land from farmers

But land is not the only state asset being sold at an alarming rate.

Beginning in the 1990s, large swathes of the country's rich forests were bought up by logging companies.

Now sizeable mining and gas concessions are also being granted to private enterprises.

Eleanor Nichol of Global Witness believes individual members of the Cambodian government, right up to the highest levels, are benefiting.

"Essentially what we're dealing with here is a kleptocratic state which is using the country and its assets as their own personal slush fund," she said.

The Cambodian government rejects these allegations.

"They could accuse [the government of] anything they like. Cambodia operates under a modernised state of law. Everyone is together under one law,” said Phay Siphan.

Back in Kong Yu village, the Jarai people are waiting to hear the result of suit filed in a local court to try to get their land back.

"If the company gets the land, many of our people will starve," says Mr Fil.

"If we lose the land, we have lost everything.”

Assignment is broadcast on BBC World Service on Thursday at 0906 GMT and repeated at 1406 GMT, 1906 GMT, 2306 GMT and on Saturday at 1106 GMT.
You can listen online or download the podcast .

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Cambodian Government Accused of Creating “AIDS Colony”

http://www.weirdasianews.com

By bmchargue

12-08-2009

The uniqueness of leper colonies will soon be called into question with the accusation by human rights groups of the Cambodian Government herding HIV and AIDS-infected individuals and families into a segregated “AIDS colony” just outside the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

Over one hundred human rights groups from all around the world have expressed concern to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Health Minister Mam Bun Heng over the deplorable conditions, as more than forty families have been forced to endure since being rounded up from the Borei Keila district of Phnom Penh and sent to Tuol Sambo approximately twenty-five kilometers away.

The living conditions were deemed “life-threatening” in the letter, and described by Human Rights Watch as “crude, green metal sheds” that “lack running water and adequate sanitation.” Those with HIV and AIDS are particularly vulnerable to the health risks posed by such conditions, and according to Rebecca Schleifer of Human Rights Watch, “For them, these substandard conditions can mean a death sentence or a ticket to a hospital.”

Mann Chhoeun, Phnom Penh’s Deputy Governor spoke with the English-language Phnom Penh Post, stating that they are working on bringing clean water to the inhabitants of the village, as well as providing permanent medical assistance in the form of The Center of Hope, a mission from a local hospital that assists with the medical concerns of the poor. A representative of The Center of Hope, however, said it had no plans to open up a permanent facility in the area, but will continue their weekly mobile health services.

Approximately 67,200 adults and 3,800 children in Cambodia are infected with HIV or AIDS. Those relocated are comprised of taxi drivers, seamstresses, cleaners, and day laborers. Their experience is made all the more difficult by the lack of available jobs in such a remote city, as well as the increasing danger of insufficient medical help.

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Anti-corruption watchdog to join UN-backed genocide court in Cambodia

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh

UN News Centre
http://www.un.org/

12 August 2009 – The United Nations and Cambodia have announced an agreement to establish an anti-corruption watchdog to oversee the tribunal set up to bring to justice the perpetrators of the country’s notorious ‘killing fields’ genocide over three decades ago.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), set up in 2003 by the UN and Cambodia and staffed by local and international employees, is tasked with trying senior leaders and those most responsible for serious violations of Cambodian and international law committed during the Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 and 1979.

Designating an Independent Counsellor “represents a further step to help strengthen the human resources management in the entire ECCC administration, including anti-corruption measures,” according to a joint statement issued today in Phnom Penh, the capital, by UN Assistant-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Peter Taksøe-Jensen and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.

The new office will “ensure the requirements of due process of law, including full protection of staff on both sides of the ECCC against any possible retaliation for good faith reporting of wrongdoing,” the statement added.

“In this context, the Independent Counsellor will be available to all staff to bring forward any concerns confidentially, and will be empowered to address such concerns.”

The tribunal is staffed by a mixture of Cambodian and international employees and judges, and there are two prosecutors: Robert Petit, who is stepping down as International Co-Prosecutor on 1 September, and Chea Leang, who is Cambodian.

Estimates vary, but as many as 2 million people are thought to have died during the rule of the Khmer Rouge, which was then followed by a protracted period of civil war in the impoverished South-East Asian country.

Currently there are two cases before the court, including the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as “Duch,” who is charged with crimes including torture and premeditated murder while he was in charge of the renowned S-21 detention camp. Nuon Chea faces charges of having planned and ordered the murder, torture and enslavement of civilians.

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Conference on Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia development triangle

Representatives from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have gathered at a conference in Vientiane, Laos to discuss measures to strengthen cooperation in developing the triangle region between the three countries.

The implementation of Japanese-funded projects to develop the triangle region is also under discussion.

Last year, the government of Japan announced an aid package of US$20 million to fund some projects in the triangle region, which mostly focused on developing human resources and boosting economic development.

Of the aid package, Vietnam received US$3.5 million, Laos and Cambodia US$7.5 million each and the remaining money was went to research and survey activities.

Participants also dealt with some issues such as the organizing and managing transport services in the East-West Corridor, supporting efforts to overcome the negative impact of the global financial crisis and coping with climate change and calamities in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

They proposed that the government of Japan encourage Japanese enterprises to actively partcipate in a cooperative programme with the three countries.

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